


Queen Bug

by paperinkquillpoet



Series: Other Miraculous Holders [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Identity Reveal, Akumatized Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Chloé Bourgeois Redemption, Gen, Ladybug Chloé Bourgeois, Lila Rossi's Lies Are Exposed, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug Identity Reveal, Marinette is the Guardian, Miraculous Holder Chloé Bourgeois, Not Canon Compliant, POV Chloé Bourgeois, POV Marinette Dupain-Cheng, POV changes a few times, chloé finds the ladybug miraculous, marinette loses her miraculous
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-27
Updated: 2020-05-27
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:27:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24405793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paperinkquillpoet/pseuds/paperinkquillpoet
Summary: Marinette loses her miraculous and gets akumatized. Chloé finds it and becomes Queen Bug. Chat is forced to work with a new Ladybug to stop Marinette.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Chloé Bourgeois, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Chloé Bourgeois & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Series: Other Miraculous Holders [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1762456
Comments: 7
Kudos: 114





	1. Antithief

**Author's Note:**

> I can't guarantee any of this will make sense.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette becomes akumatized.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng was not emotionally prepared when Adrien gave her beautiful silver earrings, set with tiny sapphires. She had designed them herself and entered them into Gabriel Agreste’s jewelry design competition. She hadn’t expected Adrien to give her a pair of them. Adrien, on the other hand, had seen it as the perfect birthday gift for Marinette, even approved by his father. When she opened the package, she just stared at him, mouth agape.

“I noticed you always wear the same earrings, but I thought you might like these, since you designed the jewelry line. I saw this pair and I thought it would bring out your eyes…” He shrugged sheepishly.

Marinette kept staring at the earrings. Jewelry. Adrien Agreste had bought her jewelry.

“I’ve never really given presents to my friends before. I hope this is okay.”

When Marinette still didn’t respond, Adrien asked worriedly. “Do you not like them? I can get you something else, like—”

“No!” Marinette exclaimed, practically shouting. “I love you! Them!” She was vaguely aware that Alya was laughing and recording her. “Thank you!” She pulled a very startled Adrien into a hug, almost knocking him over before he hugged her back.

“Uh… You’re welcome?” Despite looking very confused, Adrien smiled. “Do you want to try them on?”

Marinette paused. She didn’t want to take off her Miraculous. What if she needed to transform into Ladybug? What would Tikki think? But looking at her crush’s hopeful smile, she quickly took off her earrings and dropped them in her purse, next to her kwami. She put on Adrien’s gift then spun around to look at Alya, who gave her a thumbs-up. “How do I look?” she asked.

“Beautiful. They really do bring out your eyes,” Adrien replied. He was thrilled that he’d chosen the right earrings for her.

Marinette squeaked.

Adrien pulled out his phone. “Can I take a picture?” When Marinette nodded, he snapped a picture and spun his phone around to show her. “What do you think?” 

“I like them.” Marinette was kicking herself internally. She was a fashion designer; she had designed these earrings. She could say more than that to Adrien, but her brain had short-circuited.

Seemingly noticing her friend’s distress, Alya put her phone in her pocket and stepped up. “Marinette is really happy to have those earrings. They’re so pretty and so expensive.”

As Adrien beamed, Marinette thanked Alya quietly.

“Anything to see my ship sail,” Alya teased. Marinette elbowed her.

It was then that Chloé chose to get involved. “Adrikins, it’s so charitable of you to get your _classmate_ such a nice gift. Those earrings look so much better than her old ones. But really, you shouldn’t have.”

Adrien frowned. “Chloé…” he started warningly.

“I don’t know why you went out of your way to get her something so expensive,” Chloé continued.

“It’s because she’s his friend,” Alya interrupted. “Why don’t you try being nice, Chloé?”

“To Marinette?” Chloé scoffed. “I’ll be nice to Marinette the day she’s Ladybug.” She turned and walked to the other side of the room.

If Marinette had not already been blushing, her face would have turned red then.

“Marinette is my friend, and she is just as nice as Ladybug,” Adrien said. Nino smirked.

Adrien thought she was just as nice as Ladybug? Marinette thought she was going to explode.

Thinking quickly, Alya asked, “Adrien, do you want to spend some time alone with Marinette today? I think she’d like that.”

“Alya!” Marinette was shocked. “Adrien, you have to – I mean you don’t.”

“It’s fine. I want to spend time with you.” Marinette was cute and a good friend, and it was her birthday, so he saw no reason not to spend time with her. “We have free time now. We could take a walk and talk about whatever you want.”

Marinette had to be dreaming. She hoped nobody pinched her. As she walked away with Adrien, Alya went back to talking with Nino, and the rest of her classmates, who had been watching from afar, also drifted away. Nobody, not even Marinette, noticed her purse strap burst except Chloé.

Chloé was busy and did not want to chase Marinette down and return her purse while the clumsy girl was wasting Adrien’s time. Nonetheless, she picked it up. She’d give it back to Marinette later, maybe. Until then, she figured it couldn’t hurt to peek inside the purse.

When she opened the purse, she saw a vaguely familiar red shape and immediately shut it back, glancing around to make sure she was alone. She hid behind a corner and reopened the purse, staring at a red and black kwami similar to Pollen. It had to be Ladybug’s.

That meant Marinette Dupain-Cheng was Ladybug.

She had taken Ladybug’s purse.

Chloé’s eyes fell on a pair of earrings in the purse and picked them up, realizing they were Ladybug’s earrings. Marinette had taken off her Miraculous to put on Adrien’s gift. If there was an akuma attack, there would be trouble.

At the same moment, Marinette realized she had lost her purse. “Adrien, have you seen my purse?” she asked, fear creeping into her voice. She had to hope Tikki could find her and bring her earrings if anything happened.

“No, why?” Adrien asked.

“It’s…” Marinette thought quickly. “a gift. From my family in China!”

Adrien seemed surprised. “Huh. It doesn’t look Chinese.”

“That’s because they bought it when they were on vacation,” Marinette amended hurriedly.

“Oh, okay.” If Adrien doubted her, he decided not to press the topic. “I’m sure you’ll find it. We can go look for it, if you want.”

Marinette was already panicking. “What if someone stole it?”

“Then we’ll tell someone,” Adrien reassured her.

“I can’t lose that purse. It’s important to me.” It also had her kwami and her Miraculous. Losing it would doom Paris, and she would no longer be Ladybug and she would never see Chat Noir again.

“You’ll find it.” Adrien took both of her hands in his. “Take a deep breath and tell me where you last saw it.”

Squeezing his hands tightly, she answered, “I don’t remember.” Despite her best efforts, Marinette was panicking. What if there was an akuma? She was the only one who could purify it. Her ladybug luck clearly wasn’t working right now, so there was probably going to be an akuma, and she was powerless. “I need my purse.”

Seeing a familiar dark butterfly floating behind Marinette, Adrien sucked in a breath. Eyes wide, he said, “You need to calm down and think happy thoughts. There’s an akuma behind you.”

Instead of calming down, Marinette spun around, stared at the akuma, and froze. She knew the akuma would get someone else if it didn’t get her, and nobody could stop it.

Adrien grabbed her hand and pulled her after him. He needed to get her to safety, then he could sneak off and transform, find his lady, and stop the akuma.

Marinette tripped as they turned a corner. Despite Adrien’s attempt to catch her, she fell to the ground hard, and the akuma caught up with her, landing on her new earrings. Hawkmoth’s voice filled her ears. “Marinette Dupain-Cheng, I am Hawkmoth. Your purse has been stolen. I give you the power to expose thieves as Antithief. In return, all I ask is that you to bring me Ladybug’s and Chat Noir’s Miraculous. Do you agree?”

Marinette nodded. “Yes.” 

At once, a black bandit mask formed around her eyes and a sleek black suit covered her body. Where her purse had been, she now had something that looked like a gun. She picked it up, finding that it fit her hand perfectly. Her transformation complete, Antithief ran as fast as she could to find people and whoever stole her purse.

She burst into the school common area and pulled out her weapon and shot it at the first person she saw, Lila.

The liar froze, handcuffs around her wrists, under Antithief’s spell.

“Tell me, Lila, what have you stolen?”

And in front of a crowd frozen in shock and regret, Lila confessed.

Antithief nodded, pleased. “Your punishment is confess to your lies and only tell the truth.”

The handcuffs still around her wrists, Lila forced out a “yes, Antithief,” and turned to confess to Alya’s recording camera.

Antithief walked out of the school to find her next victims.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that's a nice place to stop. What's going to happen now?


	2. Battle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chloé steps up and becomes Queen Bug.

Chloé heard the commotion as people shouted about the akuma, saying in terror that it was Marinette. She froze and clutched Marinette’s purse, then ran out of the sight of the others. “Hey, kwami, I need your help, there’s an akuma,” she said, putting on the earrings. “What’s your name?”

The kwami floated out of Marinette’s purse, looking warily at Chloé. “You’re Pollen’s holder, Chloé. What did you do with mine?”

“Marinette dropped her purse and turned into an akuma.”

The ladybug kwami sighed. “I was afraid this would happen.”

“So how do I transform?” Chloé was starting to get impatient.

“My name’s Tikki,” she said at last. “Say ‘Tikki, spots on’ to transform and ‘Tikki, spots off’ to detransform. Do you know everything else?”

“Yes, I am a huge fan of Ladybug, after all,” she said. Chloé glanced around once. “Tikki, spots on!”

Chloé transformed in a flash of red light. Her suit had a black bodice, boots, and gloves, dotted with white around the edges, then red above the bodice, boots, and gloves in the familiar Ladybug pattern. It reminded her of her Queen Bee suit, except this time she was Queen Bug. She brushed a hand over her head, finding her hair was up in a fancy topknot and she had antennae. But now was not the time for it. With another look around, she sprinted out to find the akuma. She needed to track down Chat Noir, too. She hoped he wouldn’t fight her.

Hearing a loud crash, Chloé followed the noise. She saw two dark figures fighting on a rooftop through the window. Chat was frantically dodging the akuma’s attacks. Chloé raced outside and threw Ladybug’s yoyo around a lamppost to pull herself up. She landed on the roof beside Chat Noir, wrapped an arm around him, and swung back to the sidewalk.

“Antithief is Marinette Dupain-Cheng, the one person I never wanted to fight when akumatized, besides you, my lady. She’s really hard to beat. What took you so long?” Chat asked, not yet turning around to look at her. His gaze was focused on the roof.

“I can’t say,” Chloé hedged.

At that, Chat spun around and looked at her. “You’re not my lady.”

“Ladybug is busy so I’m here in her place,” Chloé lied.

Chat frowned. “Ladybug doesn’t want anyone to know her identity. What did you do to her?” He pointed his baton at her threateningly.

Chloé held her hands up. “Nothing, I promise. She didn’t even tell me who she was.” That she had figured out on her own. She glanced up at the rooftop. “We have bigger problems than who I am, I’m sure.” Ladybug was the akuma, and she wanted her purse back.

As if to prove her point, the akuma jumped off the roof, shooting a beam at Chloé. “You thief! I am Antithief and I am going to expose you as what you are.” She landed with a kind of gracefulness that could only happen due to magic.

“Not today, Antithief.” With a flick of her wrist, Chloé threw her yoyo, pulling herself back onto the roof out of Antithief’s reach. This reminded her of being Queen Bee.

But as Chloé did that, Antithief turned her focus to the distracted Chat Noir. A beam from her weapon hit him, and handcuffs appeared on his wrists. “Chat Noir,” Antithief intoned victoriously, “tell me, what have you stolen?” She walked toward him, ready to take his ring.

“My lady’s heart,” Chat answered, backing away from Antithief.

Chloé rolled her eyes. “That’s cheesy.” Yet she noticed how Antithief seemed caught off guard at his words. Did Ladybug actually like Chat Noir a little?

“That’s not what I meant.” Antithief seemed angry.

“But it’s true.” Chat winked.

Sensing trouble, Chloé wrapped her yoyo around Chat Noir and pulled him up to her. Antithief was still on the ground. “We need a plan, and you need to be careful.”

“Alright, new Bug.” He flicked her antennae, and Chloé grabbed his wrist, turning him back to face Antithief.

“Focus!” She pointed at the akuma below, who had just shot two more people running from her.

“What have you stolen?” Antithief shouted, then waited as they confessed, tutting at the long list. “I think you’ll have to serve some time for this stopping other thieves.” The handcuffs stayed around their wrists as the two nodded and turned to Chloé and Chat. “Get them, my thieves!”

More people under Antithief’s spell emerged from the surroundings. One of them touched a terrified onlooker, turning them into part of Antithief’s army. Hearing a scraping noise behind them, Chat and Queen Bug turned to see someone climbing up the side of the building.

Backing up, Chat said, “This might be a good time to use your Lucky Charm.”

“It might be a better time to run!” Chloé turned and began running across the rooftop, jumping to another building.

Chat didn’t argue as he vaulted after her with his baton. When they finally stopped, Chloé tossed her yoyo up in the air and called out, “Lucky Charm?”

She stared at the black handcuffs dotted with white. “What am I supposed to do with this?”

“Ladybug got handcuffs as her lucky charm once. We used them to handcuff ourselves together,” Chat contributed.

Chloé shook her head in disgust. “Absolutely not. Maybe we should put these handcuffs on Antithief.”

“Good idea, new Bug. I’ll lure her over to you.” Chat took off.

Then an idea dawned on Chloé. Swinging off the rooftop, she slipped the handcuffs onto her own wrists. “Hey, Antithief. I stole Ladybug’s miraculous. Come and get me!”

Antithief turned and approached her. “You’re going to pay for this by handing over the Ladybug miraculous.”

“But first you have to catch me.” Chloé took off running for her life. It was harder dodging Antithief’s shots while handcuffed, but she managed well enough. One of the shots bounced off a streetlamp next to her. She threw her yoyo around the lamppost, swinging onto another street. Then she raced down the street, past a large sign above one of the shops, and signaled to Chat Noir. He nodded and hid, waiting. Chloé ducked behind a wall and peeked out from the flower arrangement to watch.

As expected, Antithief rounded the corner and stopped under the sign. “Come out, come out, you thieving insect,” Antithief called.

“Cataclysm!” The support under the sign crumbled, pitching it forward off the roof. Antithief barely had time to brace before it knocked her over and pinned her down.

Chloé dashed out and handcuffed Antithief before she could reach for her weapon.

“The akuma is in her earrings!” Chat called.

“Thanks!” Chloé broke the earrings and watched the butterfly fly up, catching it with her yoyo and cleansing it like Ladybug did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now for the resolution....


	3. Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The resolution of this tale.

Now Marinette blinked, looking up at the unfamiliar Ladybug. The costume looked different but well-designed. “What happened?” This couldn’t be right. She was Ladybug. But… she’d lost her purse. Had someone else found it and become Ladybug? Would she ever be Ladybug again? “What did I do?” There were handcuffs on her wrists. A giant sign pinned her down. Chat Noir, her partner, was climbing down from the building where the sign used to be. She had to admit it was clever.

“I’ll explain later,” the girl said. She picked up the handcuffs and tossed them up in the air. “Miraculous ladybug!” Everything restored itself around her, strange to watch when someone else was doing it. It had been strange when Chat had done it that one time, but now she’d have to get used to it.

The new ladybug’s earrings beeped. “Actually, I only have two minutes, I’ll explain now. Nice working with you, Chat!”

“I never got your name,” Chat called over.

Chloé walked over to him and said, quietly enough that Marinette couldn’t hear, “You can call me Queen Bug.” Then she walked back to Marinette, picked her up, and swung off with her.

Behind them, it registered with Chat what that name meant. “Chloé,” he said quietly as he began making his way back to school.

A minute later, Marinette sighed with relief as the new Ladybug put her down in an alleyway. Then the girl’s miraculous beeped again. “Shouldn’t you run off and detransform?” she asked.

The girl shook her head. “I have something of yours.”

Marinette knew then that this girl was aware she was Ladybug. “W-what?”

The new Ladybug took Marinette’s hand. Reaching up slowly, she said, “Tikki, spots off,” and removed her earrings. With a weak smile, Chloé dropped them in Marinette’s palm. “Here, Ladybug.”

Hovering between the two girls, Tikki said. “She found your purse on the ground and you were already akumatized.”

“This is a disaster! You know who I am!” Only Chloé’s hand on her shoulder made Marinette stop panicking.

“Calm down, I’m not going to tell anyone. I even gave you back your miraculous. I’m s-,” Chloé paused on the word, struggling to get it out, “s- sorry for everything I said about you. I don’t envy your job.”

“I don’t forgive you yet, but thanks for apologizing,” Marinette said slowly. “What do you want in return for giving me back my miraculous?”

“Nothing.” Chloé was already walking away. “Do you want to be late back to class?”

Back in school, Alya gave Marinette a hug. “I’m glad you’re okay, girl. You didn’t hurt anyone too badly. You even hit Lila and got her to reveal her lies.”

“I what?” Marinette shot upright. Then she stared at the video. “I did.”

“We’re all sorry we didn’t believe you,” Alya admitted, Nino nodding next to her. Then Alya continued, “But I got some cool footage of the other Ladybug! New Bug!”

“What do you think of her?” Marinette subtly glanced at Chloé, who seemed focused on her phone but was probably listening.

“She’s cool and she saved the day and saved you. Plus have you seen her costume? It’s awesome.” Alya showed a video of Chloé swinging with Chat, then a picture of Chloé that highlighted her costume.

Marinette nodded. “As a designer, I have to agree that her costume is well done.” She still liked her simple, clearly Ladybug costume. It made a statement.

“But Ladybug is the best. She knows what she’s doing and she probably could have beat you in a minute.” Alya leaned back. “I’m writing a piece for the Ladyblog comparing the two and trying to figure out who they are!”

“Alya, don’t,” Chloé interrupted. “It would put them in danger.”

“I hate to say it, but I agree with her,” Adrien said, walking up to them. He was looking at Chloé strangely.

“Don’t you think she looks a little like Queen Bee with the costume?” Alya asked.

“We’d know if it was Chloé. She would’ve shouted it from the rooftops,” Adrien said, covering for his temporary partner. He looked over to see Chloé scowling. “But maybe you should call her Queen Bug.”

It had to be a coincidence. The two idiots. Marinette, in love with Adrien. Chat Noir, in love with Ladybug. She buried her head in her hands. “Adrien,” she said. “I don’t like that.”

After class, she pulled Adrien aside. “So, Chat, is this your miraculous?” She lifted his hand to look at the ring with the pawprint on it.

Adrien laughed. “What? No!”

“It makes sense. And now I know both your identities.”

“She didn’t tell you who she was though.” Adrien frowned, then caught his mistake. “Fine. Yes, I’m Chat Noir.”

“I figured it out without her knowing. I told her later.”

“You’ve figured two of our identities out in less than an hour. How?”

“You’re both dense and clueless. Tell your lady that Queen Bug thinks it’s in both of your best interests to confess.” Chloé walked away confidently after that.

So that night at patrol, Ladybug was greeted by a nervous Chat Noir. “Queen Bug knows both our identities and thinks we should confess.”

“Queen Bug? Isn’t that what…” Realization dawned on her. “Adrien.” Marinette thought she was going to faint. Her goofy, pun-loving partner was her crush. She had been working with her crush, talking to her crush, touching her crush. Her crush had been flirting with her. Heat rose to her face. Adrien Agreste.

Chat gasped. “You’re in my class.” Now he understood what Chloé had meant. He looked at her and the pieces began to fall into place. How had he been so blind? “Marinette,” he gasped.

“Tikki is going to be so mad at me for this. Oh no,” Ladybug said. She looked around and found nowhere to hide. She wondered how hard it would be to sink through the rooftop and disappear.

“I’m in love with Marinette,” Chat Noir murmured, mostly to himself, but Marinette heard.

“Adrien Agreste said he’s in love with me,” she half-screeched. “I said no to Chat because I was in love with Adrien, but I was saying no to Adrien.”

“Marinette’s in love with me,” Chat whispered. “Plagg, claws in.”

Seeing her crush standing in front of her, Marinette said, “Tikki, spots off.”

Upon seeing each other, the kwamis grinned and hugged each other. “They figured it out,” Plagg cheered. “No more lovesick pining!”

Tikki sighed. “You win this time, Plagg.”

While their kwamis caught up, the two teens stared at each other. “I’m so glad it’s you,” Marinette said at last.

“I feel paw-sitively the same way,” Adrien agreed.

Marinette scowled at Chat’s pun, slipping back into her confident Ladybug demeanor. “I take it back.”

“Too late, my lady.” He took off running, shouting, “Plagg, claws out!”

“Tikki, spots on!”

The two heroes took off chasing each other, passing by Chloé’s window. She smirked.

In the morning, Marinette and Adrien walked into school hand in hand, to the surprise of everyone but Chloé, who gave them a knowing “I told you so.”

After school, she returned home to find a gift bag from Marinette’s parents’ bakery waiting for her. Inside was a box containing baked goods. She opened it and saw a dozen macarons, four black with green pawprints, four red with black ladybug spots, and four yellow with black bee stripes. Smiling to herself, she put it aside and moved the tissue paper in the bag to reveal small, familiar box. She picked it up and opened it, gasping when Pollen flew out. “I never thought I’d see you again!”

“Ladybug said you earned it and you’re going to get to keep your miraculous from now on,” the kwami said, settling into Chloé’s hands.

“I have to thank her,” Chloé said. “Marinette’s too kind.”

But for now, Chloé was going to enjoy the moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There we go! Everything works out for them.


End file.
